Doctor, Does High-School Start Too Early?

When it comes to picking the optimal start time for secondary schools, there has been a significant amount of debate. On one hand, widespread adolescent sleep deprivation and the importance of sleep on the developing teen brain supports a later start time, and while economic issues and family scheduling has long been seen as a reason to keep school times early, a recent study suggests that delaying school start times to 8:30 or later could potentially help save $83 billion in the U.S. economy within 10 years.

We asked global physicians: do you think that secondary schools should start no earlier than 8:30?

“To start the teaching at 8:30 or 9:00 would correspond to the biorhythm. A lot of children and especially young people are very tired in the early morning because they have to get up early… Especially in puberty the sleep-wake rhythm shifts. Effective learning is not yet available at 8 o’clock in the morning. We also know that the best time for class work is from 10am. Homework should be done after 3 pm, because our biorhythm is a good learning phase and everything can be recorded and done much faster.” – General Practice

“I do not think it is logical that the students wake up at night and arrive half-awake at the first classes.” – General Surgery

“Let them sleep in. We have so many teens taking bogus classes or on a work study program where they leave at 1 pm to work at McD’s; we can certainly give the teens who must babysit their siblings a shorter school day.” – Family Medicine

However, 42 percent of doctors voted no, arguing current early start times encourag overall productivity:

“I always had early morning classes in college and I believe that I was better off for it. It made me get my work done at a reasonable hour, get to bed before dawn and get disciplined to go to classes on time. All the recent studies clearly demonstrate that early risers in business / industry accomplish more during the day so why not start kids on the proper path at an early age!” – Gastroenterology

“8:30 is too late. The teacher would move too far back and the day would be over quickly. For extracurricular activities there is only very little time left.” – Obstetrics & Gynecology

“If you push back school start times one hour later, those rascally teenagers will just stay out one hour later at night…and still complain about lack of sleep.” – Pediatrics

The poll was fielded in September of 2017. 1023 physicians responded to the poll. The margin of error for the global poll was ±3%. More information about SERMO polling methodology can be found here.

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Comments

Though I am way past my HS Days, I think starting a bit later can be helpful. As an Insurance Agent, my schedule varies and flexibility is a must. I will say that when I am starting later, I feel less hurried. I’m not sure how hurried teenagers will feel, so this one has me straddling the fence and agreeing with both later start times and 8am class starting times. What I am fascinated with at this time is Doctor Networks and how loyal some members are to their Doctors. I think that speaks to the importance of building relationships with patients and Doctors being good active listeners. I am also loving the new show on ABC called The Good Doctor. I have to write about it.